mr president i should like to congratulate the president of the commission this was the first time the commission has been represented at such a summit and it is indeed very welcome
i would also like to congratulate the president-in-office not only on the excellent work that he has done for the french presidency but also on his reward at the presidency of the
if nineteen eighty-nine was a decisive victory for the free market economy then two thousand and eight must be the year in which we remind ourselves of adam smith's warning that unbridled free markets have their limits
adam smith in the foresaw many things and there are many lessons there for us in what he said
my group welcomes the success of the g twenty meeting
we welcome its commitment to a shared belief that market principles open trade and investment regimes and effectively regulated financial markets foster the dynamism innovation and entrepreneurship that is essential for economic growth employment and the fight against poverty
after nineteen twenty-nine countries made the mistake of seeking individual salvation
this time we have recognised that salvation must come collectively
many of the measures proposed in the commission's work programme for two thousand and nine will help us on that road
i congratulate the commission on that work programme especially on the plan to ensure regulation and oversight and transparency of financial actors and significant capital market investors
free markets thrive on transparency and honesty
in the current difficulties some are still seeking scapegoats
they are arguing that warning bells were not sounded
but they were otto graf lambsdorff and jacques delors and others wrote a letter to the slovenian presidency very early this year warning of the dangers of the overheating of the world economy
jean-claude juncker reminded us last night in his excellent speech in our debate on the tenth anniversary of the euro that the eurogroup made a number of representations to the americans and others about the dangers that we were facing
liberal democrats are not going to waste time looking for the guy who failed to spot the iceberg we will concentrate on getting people into lifeboats
we are concerned by one aspect however of the european union and the g twenty 's response
our heads of state and government appear to believe that we can go back to business as before that all that is needed is economic growth
i fear they simply have not understood so many of the lessons of the last thirty years in politics
the recession should be a good time to take stock
even with the recession world gdp is forecast to double in the next twenty years and yet that growth is based on finite resources on failing to factor in the cost of waste and on another coal-fired power station in china every week
the presidency note of twenty-eight october to inform the eu's preparatory summit on seven november had four innovation points
one of them was about sustainability
it said that internationally coordinated macroeconomic responses based on promotion of environmental investments including in developing countries are important
well clearly some minister or official in the french presidency has been doing some joined-up thinking
but that did not get into the agreed language which passed for the conclusions of the preparatory summit which talked only about climate change in one sentence in a list of other challenges
nor did it get into the g twenty conclusions other than as the penultimate point in the penultimate point which talked about examples of other critical challenges mentioning climate change as no two
there is no contradiction between keynes and fighting climate change
a modern-day maynard keynes would put people back to work installing solar panels and wind generators on every house in europe fostering innovation and providing jobs simultaneously
a modern-day roosevelt seeing that we have a global economy of which the contours are drawn in the computer campuses of west coast america the factories of china and the coal centres of india would have us seek a global culture global governance and a coherent vision of global concern
that is the way forward
it will never again be business as before
